Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

It is not surprising that they went to Jingzhou to purchase a large amount of grain. What is strange is that since Lu Bu was so short of food, why did he choose to stay put when he had the ability and manpower to repel Cao's army?

If he was stockpiling military rations in preparation for taking Jizhou in the future, the Changshan and Zhongshan areas of Jizhou were now short of troops. If Lu Bu took advantage of the situation, he would have both land and food. Why would he go all the way to Jingzhou to buy them?

Cao Cao had been thinking about something for days but still couldn't figure it out. After thinking about Zhang Mo's predictions about the young emperor and Luoyang, he suddenly understood a little.

Since she could predict such major events through astrology, could she also predict natural disasters? Was Bingzhou's massive grain purchases not due to a shortage, but rather to stockpile food for disaster relief?

After guessing this possibility, Cao Cao was completely panicked. In order to verify his guess, he sent people to observe the smoke from Lu Bu's camp and found that even if there was no fighting, the other side still had three meals a day. Not only did the soldiers eat with their faces drooling, but even the logistics workers were all energetic and did not look like they were short of food at all.

As for why the other party did not go to Jizhou to purchase grain, but had to go all the way to Jingzhou, Cao Cao sent Xun You to find out and found out that Jizhou had been planting hemp on a large scale in the past two years, and the people had no extra grain to buy, and it was unknown how much grain was left in Yuan Shao's treasury.

After this verification and confirmation, it was already May of the first year of Xingping (AD 194). Since the beginning of spring, there had been almost no rain in Guanzhong, Hanoi, and Henan Yin areas. The water levels of the Wei River and the Yellow River dropped sharply, and signs of a disaster year had begun to appear.

"The war isn't over yet, and natural disasters are imminent. What can we do?"

Cao Cao frowned and sighed heavily.

From childhood to adulthood, he has experienced countless famines. Although as an upper-class person he will not go hungry, he is very clear about the terrible consequences of famine, which will force people to become devils.

"Bingzhou has stockpiled a large amount of food and made sufficient preparations. It will be meaningless for us to drag on this war. Henei has suffered another disaster this year, and it seems that we can't collect much food. It's better to withdraw our troops as soon as possible!" Xun You said.

"I'm just afraid that Lu Bu won't let me retreat!" Cao Cao said helplessly. Of course he knew that he had to withdraw his troops at this time, but given Lu Bu's temper, how could he let him retreat safely?

Xun You said, "Since Yanzhou surrendered the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou, it has no shortage of people, no shortage of food and fodder, no shortage of soldiers, but only of elite troops. My lord, you don't need to worry about casualties at this time."

Cao Cao turned and looked at him, puzzled. Xun You continued, "My lord, you have 100,000 Qingzhou soldiers. This time, our army dispatched 50,000 men, plus Lord Benchu's 80,000. With over 100,000 men, they were unable to defeat Bingzhou's 20,000 or 30,000. Besides the enemy's geographical advantage, fighting on home turf, the more important factor was the elite quality of their troops. Bingzhou's 20,000-plus soldiers are almost all elite, and the Feixiong Army is the elite of the elite. This is evident from the fact that General Qu was killed outside Jinyang City, leaving him powerless to fight back."

"Therefore, I believe that my lord should streamline the troops now, selecting the strongest to escort the food and fodder ahead, while the rest remain behind to provide cover. After returning to Yanzhou, while Lü Bu attacks Jizhou, we can first slaughter Tao Qian, the fat sheep. This way, Yanzhou will no longer be afraid of famine."

In fact, by this time, Cao Cao had already realized that the decision to send troops to Bingzhou was wrong.

After defeating the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou, his next target was originally Xuzhou. However, because he had a previous feud with Lu Bu and was afraid of Lu Bu and his wife, he wanted to join forces with Yuan Shao to destroy Lu first. However, Yuan Shao was not a reliable guy. He repeatedly lost opportunities to fight because of a kid, and he retreated without loyalty. As a result, not only did this trip fail, but he also found himself in a situation where it was difficult to retreat.

Yuan Shao has been unreliable since he was a child. He should have known this long ago, but he still went to war with him. This was his biggest mistake.

Furthermore, he had previously worried that Lu Bu would cause trouble when he went to attack Xuzhou. In fact, with Yuan Shao holding him back, this worry was completely unnecessary. This was his second mistake.

Third, if he had not participated, Yuan Shao would have sent troops to Bingzhou alone, and the 80,000 troops would have directly attacked without him having to look before and after or rely on himself. In the end, even if he lost, at least he could have given Lu Bu a beating.

Sometimes uniting is not necessarily a good thing. For example, when the eighteen princes fought against Dong Zhuo, the battle was quite depressing!

Although Cao Cao despised Yuan Shao, he couldn't help but consider Jizhou's current predicament. He said, "Our army has been in a stalemate with Lü Bu for a long time, and Benchu ​​hasn't made any moves. I don't think he has any backup plans. If we withdraw, Lü Bu will surely attack Jizhou. I'm afraid Benchu ​​will be no match for him now. If Jizhou is annexed by Lü Bu, his strength will increase greatly, and it will be extremely difficult to deal with him in the future!"

After knowing that Zhang Mo might really be able to observe the stars and predict the future, Cao Cao became more wary of Lu Bu. He could already foresee that Lu Bu would be his biggest enemy on the road to future unification, so he did not want Yuan Shao to be destroyed by Lu Bu so easily.

Xun You said, "My lord, have you forgotten that there is still a wolf in the north?"

"You mean Gongsun Bogui?"

Xun You nodded. "This official has already pacified Liu Yu's former subordinates and the Wuhuan, and has taken over all the troops in Youzhou. He's even more formidable than Yuan Benchu ​​is right now. With him around, Lü Bu won't be able to seize all of Jizhou. In the future, these two will compete for supremacy in the north. My rough estimate is that it will take at least seven or eight years for the two sides to decide the winner. My lord, you only need to take advantage of this time to capture Tao Qian, defeat Yuan Shu, and then..."

Xun You suddenly stopped talking here. Cao Cao looked at him puzzledly, "What then?"

Xun You's face was solemn. He faced west and bowed, "Welcome the Emperor again!"

"Welcome the Emperor?"

"That's right, it's to welcome the Emperor. If Lü Bu has already defeated Gongsun by then, you, the lord, will have the Emperor in your hands and will have the upper hand. You can take your time. If Gongsun hasn't been defeated, you can immediately lead your troops north and join forces with Gongsun to defeat Lü Bu."

Cao Cao's expression brightened, then he sighed, "The emperor is in Chang'an, controlled by the two Li brothers. Over the past two years, the two Li brothers have bribed Zhang Ji and Fan Chou of Hongnong with official titles, and Duan Wei of Huayin has also surrendered to the court. These remnants of Dong Zhuo are no simple matter and will be difficult to deal with!"

Ever since he assassinated Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao had been striving to be a capable minister. If he had the ability to eliminate the two Li brothers and rescue the emperor, Cao Cao would have naturally not hesitated. While the two Li brothers were now far less powerful than Dong Zhuo, back then, more than a dozen princes from Guandong couldn't reach Chang'an. What could he do alone? Furthermore, with Lu Bu still in Hedong Commandery, Cao Cao would never dare or would send troops to Chang'an.

Xun You said, "It's not feasible to attack Chang'an. We can try to get the emperor to escape from Chang'an on his own. We will meet him halfway."

Cao Cao nodded and asked, "Then how can we help the emperor escape safely?"

"First, we can use Ma Teng and Han Sui from Xiliang. These two are extremely ambitious and greedy. When the late emperor was alive, they often followed the Liangzhou rebels to plunder the Three Prefectures. My lord, you can send envoys to Liangzhou and offer them benefits, inviting them to send troops to Fufeng County. Then the two Li brothers, Zhang Ji, and Fan Chou will surely send troops to quell the rebellion, and perhaps we can seize the opportunity."

"Secondly, let's see if we can bribe Duan Wei. He seems loyal to Your Majesty. If he's willing to help, we can do it."

"If these two methods fail, you can ask for the help of Lord Benchu. His Yuan family has joined forces with the Hongnong Yang family. Their disciples and former officials are almost everywhere in the court. They can use some conspiracy to sow discord between the two Lis and others, causing them to fight among themselves. This will then give Your Majesty an opportunity to escape."

Cao Cao clapped his hands and laughed, "Good! Good! Very good! Very good!"